Game piece



June 8, 19245.

. V. R. DUTTON GAME Pmcs Filed July 50, 1921 INVEN'I'OR I V RNETR UTTON,

.14 ATTORNEY.

Patented June 8, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

VERNET R. DUTTON, OF BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE NEW DEPARTURE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT, A' CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

GAME PIECE.

Application filed July 30, 1921. Serial No. 488,530.

'My invention relates to game pieces, and more particularly to dice, my object being .to produce a die havingfaces upon which it can come to definite positions of. rest and yet having great ability toroll, to roll on substantially any axis, and to be automatically deflected (during its rolling) to roll upon various axes, thus augmenting the interest of the player by creating suspense through the period of the rolling and by making the face upon which the die will come to rest a matter of the greatest chance. To this end, and also to improve generally upon devices of the character indicated, my invention consists in the various matters hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view; Figure 2 is an elevation as the die appears resting upon one of the pole faces; Figure 3 is an elevation with the die resting upon one of the equatorial faces and with a pole face toward the observer; Figure 4 is an elevation with the die turned upon the vertical axis of Figure 3 ninety degrees from the position shown in that figure; and Figure 5 shows the die as if it were cut into segments and these segments arranged in a line.

In the illustrated embodiment of my invention the die is, in effect, a spherical body with flat faces, 1 and 2, formed at what may be termed the poles, and other flat faces, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, formed about its circumference midway between these poles, thus leaving spherical sections, 9 and 10, between the pole faces 1 and 2 and the equatorial faces 3 8. The equatorial faces are tangential to each other, as at 11 in the equatorial line of the sphere, and the spherical sections 9 and 10 extend to these points of tangency. Thus, the faces provide flat surfaces upon which the die can come to some definite position of rest (and upon which scoring symbols can be borne), and yet the general sphericity of the die gives it great rolling capacity when it is thrown upon a table or the like; the spherical sections afford true rolling surfaces, and the meeting of these spherical sections with the perimeters of the flat faces, and especially with the tangential points of adjacent equatorial faces, gives the die the tendency to be defiected from one axis of rotation to another as the edges of the flat faces successively engage the table during the time the die is rolling.

The die herein illustrated can be inexpensively and conveniently made by starting with a bar of stock hexagonal in cross-sectron and turning this against a cutting tool whose cutting edge is curved upon the great est radius of the cross-section of the stock. I have found that by letting this tool cut the bar until it reaches the meeting point between ad acent faces of the hexagon, the resultant eight flat faces of the die are substantially circular areas of substantially the same size, and, as the equatorial faces meet each other in the equatorial line, the hernispheres of the die are well balanced with respect to each other and equal liability to roll upon any axis results. Of course, after the cutting tool has finished its operation the shaped portion of the bar is cut from the remainder of the stock, thus producing one of the pole faces.

The markings upon the die faces may vary to sult the die to the playing of differentgames, but in the embodiment illustrated I have used the characters T, P, and A to indicate, respectively, take, put, and all, so that when these characters are combined with each other or with numerals they indicate the number of counters which the particular player (or all of the players, as the case may be) should contribute to or withdraw from the pool when the die, having been rolled by a player, comes to rest with some face uppermost, the characters upon such uppermost face being the ones determining the effect-of the play.

The present die can be made of convenient size for handling, is easily and inexpensively manufactured, can be carried in the pocket without fear of punching holes in it, can definitely come to rest upon some face, and yet has great rolling capacity and enhances interest in the game by the suspense created during its period of rolling and by the complete uncertainty as to the various axes upon which the die will revolve.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A die having a series of substantially flat faces extending-around its body and meeting end to end, and a curved supporting surface at the side of said series of faces and meeting all the faces in said series, said surface supporting the die for rolling movex tially flat,

faces of said series being tangential to each other in the equatorial line around said body and the spherical parts of said body extending to the perimeters of the several said circular faces; substantially as described.

4. A die having a body provided with substantially fiat faces which meet each other,

and curved supporting surfaces on which the die is adapted to roll, said surfaces meeting said fiat faces and extending to the'juncture between them; substantially as described.

5. A die having a body provided with substantially flat faces which are tangential to each other, and curved supporting surfaces on which the die is adapted to roll, said surfaces meeting said faces and extending to the point of said tangency; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

VERNET R. DUTTON. 

